stevy r.p. interview intriguing story for you to. see arabic to find out because it. fits in with the new around the globe spectacular celebrations from australia to america we show you the highlights this hour. also looks at the legacy of the twenty twelve could have been if things had turned out differently and explore some of the challenges the world might face in the coming months. and an eleventh hour deal looks set to pull america from the edge of the fiscal cliff from the tax hikes for millions of americans for the time being at least.

hello very good evening to you delighted to have you company this new year's day evening it's now ten pm here in moscow my name is kevin now and our top story it out the small office evening twenty thirteen has made it around the globe with an array of fireworks performances and cheering crowds as they look at the world's big party showing new zealand first of all was among the first washer in twenty thirty crowd packed the harbor don't live with joy the fireworks exploding over the city's sky was a beautiful scene that then was over to a straight. shortly afterwards with almost two million people gathering to see the now standard jaw dropping fireworks from the harbor bridge as the clock struck midnight new year continued its triumphant march through asia with one of the most spectacular shows on bailing in hong kong its biggest ever in fact. leading to twenty thirteen huge like sixty. on land and sky then europe picking up the holiday torch is berlin hosting one of the world's largest open air parties at the

brandenburg gate and taking you to the u.k. pulling out all the stops what was the end of a very big year for the u.k. with a mesmerizing fireworks display in the heart of the capital london. look at that all set to music to then we head across the atlantic over a million spectators descended on new york's iconic times square to celebrate the event with the traditional drop of the crystal ball. here in russia the new year officially kicked off for the traditional chime of the country's main clock on one of the kremlin's towers revelers from across russia came to red square to watch the crowning moment of fireworks above the iconic saying thousands can see . beautiful well a mixed emotions regarding the year this past with some sad to see it end but many more hope for the twenty thirty will see better times r.t. if you see catherine of takes a look at the world that could be. twenty twelve

was certainly full of disappointing headlines hope field by the arab spring turned into the turmoil of the arab autumn the war in syria claimed countless lives and a fiscal crisis all the european union torn apart at its very seams and the problems facing our world today certainly don't offer themselves up to an easy fix what if things had turned out differently what if opportunities were actually the pawn instead of missed well here's our look at the twenty twelve headlines that could have been. diplomacy succeeds in syria ending bloody conflict. instead this was the image of syria the world saw increasingly violent clashes between government forces and the opposition had claimed more than forty thousand lives efforts to negotiate a diplomatic solution fall flat because divisions ripped apart both the country and the international community hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled to

neighboring states where many have found conditions to be dismal meanwhile syria's war is threatening to spill over its borders as tensions escalate within and in the region. of told me to try and sanction slash does iran's nuclear to accept. u.s. rules to restrict foreign. mideast peace with israel links to stage a coup probably started. yet this was the reality israel's assault on palestinian militants in gaza israel's anti-missile shield repelled the most attacks on its territory but a strike claimed the lives of more than one hundred sixty palestinians many of them civilians despite harsh condemnation from many in the international community the war and israel's subsequent decision to construct three thousand new settlements effectively slammed the door shut to any prospect of peace go through people power moment he's. step aside and let democracy in. get lost get my notorious kuantan of

my prison permanently shot. euro zone cuts the cuts and lifts austerity. but the news of austerity only tightened as deep public sector cuts brought thousands of angry demonstrators to the streets of greece spain italy and portugal. the worst economic crisis of a generation has battered the european union's very foundations exacerbating tensions between member states with some regions now desperately wanting out i grew up in a europe that was divided from east to west going to europe it is divided from old to self and never at any point in the history of this union has there been more discord of rank that we covered. corporate cash banned from the campaign coffers as part of the us political clique. now we hear for u.k. british quit european union. we found a duty in the solyndra pointed un free speech and. instead a song remains

a political refugee at ecuador's london embassy where he's been granted asylum he continues to fight extradition to sweden over alleged sex crimes charges that he says are politically motivated and tied to his work in leaking international government secrets. the power of people speaking up and resisting together terrifies corrupt democratic power so much so that only people here in the west and the enemy of governments an enemy to be watched and enemy to be can for all and to be impoverished true democracy is not the white house true democracy is not a true democracy is the resistance of people with the truth against flies from top to right here in london. everyday ordinary people teach us that democracy is free speech and just sent. from heretics to heroes american

whistleblower bradley manning finally free. nations agree to end iraq of remote control. egypt's arab spring sees democracy defeat hardline islamist. the reality on the ground was anything but egyptian president mohamed morsi has found my power grab unleashed fury and frenzied street battles and a fast track to constitutional overhaul referendum left a bitter opposition eager for change but then two thousand and twelve saw the arab spring transformed into an egyptian nightmare had a revolution to get rid of a tyrant to dictators. in order to that we made elections the revolution and elections to choose someone to the present us turned out that this guy is also a tyrant and these headlines may have been the stuff of imagination but that's the

of twenty thirteen and all of them to life. r.t. moscow. where celebrations on capitol hill were delayed as lawmakers use the early hours of twenty thirteen to strike a crucial deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff the senate eventually agreed to hold the proposed tax hike which would have affected virtually every american worker the deal still has to go before the house of representatives later on tuesday is economics expert max kaiser told us last evening it's still too late though too early to pop the champagne. but people call him a crazy kaiser mr max joining us there good to see you max i mean two thousand and two thousand and thirteen a happy new year to you there it's a rule of kevin and a nice to hear you know you never know what made you always go for the juggler with all the guests you have on the cars report is there anyone at this point you already are going up for two thousand and thirteen any victims in the future absolutely we're going after jerry. ready for. we're going to find i'm going to

a lot of the ranks. this is the year we see pranksters in jail iceland is already putting pranksters in jail now the rest of the world going to. jail the fiscal cliff is just more theater bankers and politicians trying to distract people from the underlying root catastrophe that is a bunch of bankers who are manipulating the system day in and day out destroying the economy this fiscal cliff is just more drama more theater and it doesn't really focus on the true underlying problems and we're going to see more of this going forward in two thousand and thirteen anything good bye flecked attention from the mobs with their pitchforks and their torches are coming after these people they want to just delay that day of reckoning for as many months as they can but that day's reckoning twenty eight it's coming. my mother was one comin knew you wish mom europeans that their leaders might look. all the government's

listening well the truth is the government's come to afford to listen to one of our economic contributors of the year says countries still heading down the wrong path . it's been a tough twelve months for the world's top in the sun spent twenty twelve and house arrest in the remainder of the ecuadorian embassy in london a correspondent sort of. throughout the. a lot of you say quickly did more in a year ot than most media organizations have done in decades we've really had a front seat view of everything that's been going on we had him at the beginning of the year fighting that extradition to sweden we saw his the pill rejected we then saw that dramatic twist in the tell when he went into the i could do it embassy seeking asylum we've been learning julian assange certainly the british media we've seen a lot of the cold on him quite viciously especially during the course of this year

with movie. events happening surrounding julian assange a lot of people who would put that down payment simply to jealousy well she was a success for barack obama who secured his second u.s. presidency and washington correspondent says you know only succeeded in snatching victory from march rival mitt romney but also votes from the third party. there were cheers of relief here when he won i would say because the alternative was thought to be so much worse many voted out of fear that romney could win for them he was another george w. bush so whether americans have fallen out of love with obama that two thousand and eight euphoria was gone that's for sure back then there were these crowds you know in the streets all across the country shedding tears of joy so bad if you were eight years of bush presidency obama was we get as the savior and then he went and saved the banks saved the auto industry something he took a special pride in during the election campaign but across the country people remained out of work and are still out of work so this time president obama ran

under the banner it could have been so much worse as you imagine it was not a banner floor for national euphoria it was more like you have no choice but to choose me kind of something that shocked me was i was covering the election here it was it was the second debate between obama and romney i'm sure you remember if you remember that i just presidential nominee from the green party jule styne was arrested right outside the venue where the debate was taking place she was protesting for exclusion from that is a nobody like no news channel period mentioned her arrest none and i was switching channels for hours to see if anything was said about that and it was nothing i can imagine what the reaction would be here in the states if a presidential candidate is the other big country was arrested in the media there wouldn't even mention it but apparently it happens in the u.s. no big deal presidential candidates get arrested all the time right well there was some irony in that yes anyway during the election campaign the mainstream media had

been focused on nothing else and no one else but these two candidates and we are t.v. as you remember of course saw the is saw an opportunity there to show what others don't and we hosted the debate. more on what twenty thirteen holds for the u.s. president obama to keep the pressure up. for primary school shooting in connecticut. a wife who people took part in. the activists actually.

speak your language. use programs and documentaries in spanish matters to you breaking news. stories. you hear. the spanish find out more visit i. was able to build the world's most sophisticated. fortunately doesn't sound anything. to teach me creation why it should care about humans. this is why you should care only.

the. shadowed by the primary school shooting in connecticut let the president to pledge an epidemic of gun violence ati's tom hartman takes a look at whether the land of the phrase ready to loosen its grip on the right to carry a firearm. my guess is what we're going to see is cosmetic change we're going to see probably the or the assault weapons ban come back to be a fair number of loopholes in it but you know the u.s. is not going to end up going the way that's what's a longer israel have done or many most european countries have done australia when john howard was president one thousand nine hundred eight when there was a mass slaughter and then they said ok that's it we're going to buy back all the guns and it's not going to happen here there's just too much money being made with guns insane supreme court or at least five right wing crazies out of nine on the supreme court decided that even though the second amendment says in order to maintain a well regulated militia necessary for the for the security of

a free state the right to you know you people have the right to own guns that's half of it the other half of it is that the supreme court also said that corporations interest groups lobbying groups billionaires can throw unlimited amounts of money in politicians. russian politics so a criminal return for the move putin and fresh on to go protest in two thousand and twelve although in smaller numbers than the full political analysts watch developments in the heart of the rallies he told me in my code the goodness and how he sees the protest mood in russia panning out. i would say it's kind of bleak but not hopeless ok we didn't come up with any new ideas new organization new faces and if pussy riot is the leader of the opposition that's pretty dreadful situation for the russian people and political development in general here and there's there was political change in this country in a positive change who does make up the opposition as we head into the it's a very interesting question because i have gone to most of the major demonstrations

and there were people there of goodwill in my opinion but then there were fascists there ok who were communists there and then there are people there ok and it's your right to demonstrate i also for the actually liked the idea but they didn't accomplish anything but i could see they have no organization no unifying ideas except for i don't like but a mere putin which is not a very it's not a political agenda there were a few protests which i was out as well where it did seem like that was the method if you wanted to gain traction on this opposition movement do you see people coming out and take the train lost a lot of its novelty effect right now ok because political change takes years in years and years that have to be local this is what happens in political changes with countries that were what they were carrying at one time it takes a long time to get people involved in the process and that is happening very very strongly there's some people that want to really fast and they don't want to do it through elections they want power because they want power because they believe they

deserve it and what about the fact that we're not going to see any presidential elections of course that all led up to being elected a third term this protest and now they're kind of when i down now oh i would say to people i mean if you want to continue to protest fine but you know join a political party there are forty four of them now you have a choice ok get involved see one of the things that i saw with a lot of the protesters is that they want someone else to do all the hard work ok they want to go out and wave a flag and say you know give out a slogan we don't want to do the hard nitty gritty work of political change and that's what they need to do. well pitt is of course russian and global politics news cross talk series throughout the past twelve months r.t. dot com our web sites are plenty of editions of the show for you to watch on demand . around chooses a new president this june. has served its maximum two terms and there's little clue then as to who will replace him to tackle the almost inexorable tension with the west over to rand's nuclear program journalist i should returns use often shared

his sights on a round with r.t. doesn't expect the new leader to bend forward will i think whoever we people of iran elect policy foreign policy terms things are going to be much the same people are already talking about the mayor of tehran at the moment i was in a job himself or as normal in a job as the mayor of tehran the new mayor of tehran ghalibaf and people are talking about him. perhaps winning in june because it's too early and is notoriously difficult to predict iranian elections as to whether they will be as hardline and again the terms in the terminology of western corporate media on this are bizarre image of the islamic extremists in all sorts of different morning because the point is iran is there to stay in terms of forging a very different type of developing nation economy because it has all that oil and has all those resources and it's not going to suddenly start changing things the

way the i.m.f. or the way washington wants it to be. well iran's nuclear plans on the power switch to dominate headlines coming out of the middle east this year online we've got expert opinion who the key players and countries are likely to be in shaping how the rest of the region's fortunes are going to pan out and israel the palestinian people also want it to pay photo finish for twenty twelve for you a gallery of eye catching snapshots of stories that captured worldwide attention in the past. europeans of our year

a fairly uncompromising cuts to contend with which already saw plenty of street protests in the past year servicing their own debt and unemployment is one thing but investment advisor patrick young says none of it's enough to repair the country which remains the biggest headache. what's happened so far has been swindling parts of the masses and we really haven't managed to make the remotest impact upon the whole nation itself greece is still fundamentally in a huge problematic situation it does not remotely have a functioning government system that fiscally is going to manage to organize itself in any which way possible to manage to get through the continuing swen cuts that need to take list out of course then we're looking at the whole issue of the demonstrators are the governments listening well the truth is the governments can't afford to listen because what we're seeing within the european union even if the euro has survived miraculously for twelve months government has run out of money

the european union's western socialist model of spending huge amounts of money borrowing even greater amounts of money and hoping to pay everything manyara or indeed thirty years from mine yana simply does not work just over two years ago arlen was bankrupt and being bailed rescued failed economy on top of that it's no the country's turn to take over the next six months presidents of the european council so he's laura smith reports the celtic tiger has some hard graft ahead of it. it's all changed by the e.u. presidency as islands takes a six month rotating challenge on the first of january not the ovi a choice islands one of the paid the countries that have the least stable economies in europe and sure enough arlen's the first country to take hold in the presidency of the twenty seven nation bloc while being propped up by i.m.f.

money so for the next six months the e.u. and its systemic problems will be presided over by one of its weakest and most problematic members so what specific challenges does and face in europe over the six months of its presidency first the european economy is slowing flaws and the crisis is nowhere near over secondly it must preside over leaders actually agreeing to an e.u. budget for the years two thousand and fourteen to two thousand and twenty something they've spectacularly failed to do so fall and thirdly there's a problem coming from right here in london increasing british opposition to brussels and the threat to european cohesion that uses the irish government expects the e.u. presidency to coast in excess of seventy million euros money the country can ill afford and what will it be spent on twenty four million on catering accommodation

and transport for example and another twenty million extra governments doth. all the way one of the hopes of turning over a new leaf in the rest of middle east we examine plus more international stories as well told in just a few minutes. wealthy british style. life. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger or a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines kinds a report. for the.

science technology innovation. developments from around russia. the future covered. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything is. i'm tom harkin welcome to the big picture. is the syrian conflict and has its twenty second month international envoy lakhdar brahimi says the crisis must be sold in twenty thirty and he wants his peace plan to help achieve that but as the new year rung in heavy clashes and shelling reported near the capital middle east expert pepe escobar believes the will to stop

the bloodshed should also come from outside syria to. very sad to say to everybody all over the world that the top geopolitical tragedy of two thousand and thirteen is going to be the top geopolitical tragedy of two thousand and eleven the rape of syria the only possibility it would be that the opposition. in a syrian way this sides not to listen to the saudis the turks the qataris the americans the brits and the french and they sit down with the assad government and they will work out a transitional government or at least a provisional period leading to free and fair elections is this going to happen not likely. the recent conflict in gaza resume putting israel off plan to give more settlements in the occupied palestinian territories that's despite saber rattling from homeless and fatah who vowed to rearm and defend themselves by all means

middle east correspondent paula slayer the line so this might affect the region's future to look at what's happening on the ground israel continues to announce settlement construction and the palestinians continue to say that for as long as these announcements continue they will be no resumption of peace talks it wasn't so long ago that the palestinians were awarded upgraded status at the united nations but you cannot detract from the fact that we still have palestinian faction groups hamas and fatah who are essentially at each other's throats in less than a month the israelis will go to the polls and by all predictions they will reelect the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu for another term of office and it doesn't seem as if he has an olive branch so certainly the prognosis for any kind of peace moves is far let's hope that as tough as it will be the two sides will find a way to work together happy new year. around the same to you know the news making headlines this new year's day there's been violence in the other palestinian territory this new year's day in the northern west bank dozens of palestinians were

reportedly injured when israeli security forces fired on them after the troops were pelted with stones and the trouble flared after the soldiers disguised as vegetable sellers apparently tried to seize a known operative of a local jihadist group checkpoints and blockades have been set up in the area a middle east correspondent updates on twitter of course can be found. in the first pakistan five female teachers into health workers have been shot dead in an ambush it's believed the attackers to warn other women against seeking education in conservative parts of the country which are often raided by islamic militants in october a taliban government shot a fifteen year old girl for promoting schooling among others. scuffles between protesters and police for up to the march in hong kong demanding the resignation of the city's top political leader. is faced falling popularity and a no confidence vote against him since he came to power six months ago you selected by beijing committee of twelve hundred. twenty twelve so something of

a rise of the machines is drone warfare shoved into the headlines american unmanned craft killing civilians abroad and the approval of drone use for keeping tabs on people inside the u.s. those are the topics that drew five martin the host of artie's breaking the set and she thinks things are going to get worse too in twenty thirty. really when we're talking about drones actually a really serious topic because people are under this notion that drones are somehow precise they're the good way to fight the war on terror really they completely are counterintuitive they create and harbor terrorists they have a ninety eight percent failure rate i mean so why are we using and i mean it's just amazing to me that this president is rain on drones and taking on more more drones and the not only that but i mean the surveillance drones are going to happen in this country in two thousand and thirteen congress passed a bill to now authorize surveillance drones all over the united.